A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to fully fund SNAP, following a week of indecision about the program’s fate during the government shutdown.

The Rhode Island judge said the administration must tap emergency funds by tomorrow, but it is still unclear when the benefits will hit the Lone Star Cards that Texas participants use to purchase food at grocery retailers.

“The defendants failed to consider the practical consequences associated with this decision to only partially fund SNAP,” U.S. District Judge John J. McConnell Jr. said in a ruling from the bench after a brief hearing, according to the Associated Press . “They knew that there would be a long delay in paying partial SNAP payments and failed to consider the harms individuals who rely on those benefits would suffer.

See Full Page